paleomaxx
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- Aug 14, 2016
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Saturday was a little reconnaissance hiking and then some time at my old pounded site that recently gave up my first 1 real. I didn't expect to find much, but with the brambles flat I was able to locate the late 1800's bottle dump some distance from the cellar hole and continue my work from last week clearing the larger targets. I added a further five complete oil lamp assemblies from this dump bringing the total to 8, and all have been on or just under the surface.
The nice part of them being surface finds is that the thumb-wheels are in good shape so I've been able to pull the manufacturer's information from almost all of them. These ones are:
Apparently the Wilmot and Hotchkiss is a rarer variety so that's cool. It's also nice to get so many dates off relics, but the glass is clearly from around the same time too, so I had a pretty good idea how old the trash pit was. Incredibly it was in the pit that I found the button; not 2 inches from the surface!
It's in such good shape that I instantly knew what it was, even with the dirt. The second photo is after a splash of water to get the chunks off and it already looked great, but it wasn't until I did some careful lemon juice cleaning that it really shined:
It hardly looks like it was in the ground at all! The back had a little more difficulty, but it's a "Scoville Mfg Co Waterbury, CT" button. Civil War button are a rarity here, this being only my third ever, so I never expect to find one when I hunt. Because it was found at a specific homesite I'm hoping I can tie it to the soldier it belonged to. My research shows that this site was owned by a J. Duley in the early 1870's. I found that a John Duley joined the 54th New York Volunteer's regiment out of Hudson New York which is less that 15 miles from here. If it is indeed the same J. Duley then this button saw quite a few battles and possibly Gettysburg which would be incredible!
There were quite a few other relics that came out of the trash pit including this very odd chain:
I've never seen anything quite like it and I suspect it was a personal adornment since it can't have been that strong. I also found this beautiful cane handle.
Looks like it broke off the wood and they just pitched it. There were also a few large pewter pieces.
One is the spout from a teapot, but the smaller one almost looks like a pipe mouthpiece. There is a hole that goes through it, but it's very thick and heavy.
Some of the smaller pieces give me hope that there's older relics deeper in the trash pit. The clay pipe stem and 1820's flat button are good signs, so I think this is next on the list for sifting. I may have to wait until June, but I plan to completely dig out the pit and sift every inch of dirt. Who knows what other treasures are buried under all the glass bottles and masked by iron nails!
The nice part of them being surface finds is that the thumb-wheels are in good shape so I've been able to pull the manufacturer's information from almost all of them. These ones are:
- Sirius O.C. & Co Pat March 10, 1885
- J.H. Irwin Pat Feb. 1st 1870
- Star HB&H (Holmes, Booth, & Haydens) Pat July, 23. 1872
- Sep 16, 1862 (No Name)
- Wilmot & Hotchkiss Mfg. Co. Bridgeport CT. (1860's to 1870's)
Apparently the Wilmot and Hotchkiss is a rarer variety so that's cool. It's also nice to get so many dates off relics, but the glass is clearly from around the same time too, so I had a pretty good idea how old the trash pit was. Incredibly it was in the pit that I found the button; not 2 inches from the surface!
It's in such good shape that I instantly knew what it was, even with the dirt. The second photo is after a splash of water to get the chunks off and it already looked great, but it wasn't until I did some careful lemon juice cleaning that it really shined:
It hardly looks like it was in the ground at all! The back had a little more difficulty, but it's a "Scoville Mfg Co Waterbury, CT" button. Civil War button are a rarity here, this being only my third ever, so I never expect to find one when I hunt. Because it was found at a specific homesite I'm hoping I can tie it to the soldier it belonged to. My research shows that this site was owned by a J. Duley in the early 1870's. I found that a John Duley joined the 54th New York Volunteer's regiment out of Hudson New York which is less that 15 miles from here. If it is indeed the same J. Duley then this button saw quite a few battles and possibly Gettysburg which would be incredible!
There were quite a few other relics that came out of the trash pit including this very odd chain:
I've never seen anything quite like it and I suspect it was a personal adornment since it can't have been that strong. I also found this beautiful cane handle.
Looks like it broke off the wood and they just pitched it. There were also a few large pewter pieces.
One is the spout from a teapot, but the smaller one almost looks like a pipe mouthpiece. There is a hole that goes through it, but it's very thick and heavy.
Some of the smaller pieces give me hope that there's older relics deeper in the trash pit. The clay pipe stem and 1820's flat button are good signs, so I think this is next on the list for sifting. I may have to wait until June, but I plan to completely dig out the pit and sift every inch of dirt. Who knows what other treasures are buried under all the glass bottles and masked by iron nails!
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